CHAPTER VII
"SEKI SAN, have you got a big enderlope?" June asked the question fromthe door-step where he was sitting with his chin in his hand and a veryworried look in his face.
It was two days after his visit to Monsieur and the big letter was stillbuttoned in his blouse. He had started to mail it as soon as he reachedhome, but just as he was ready to drop it in the box, he discovered thatevery "s" turned the wrong way! It was a dreadful blow to his pride, forthe rest of the address was quite imposing with big flourishing capitalsthat stood like generals over the small letters, and dots that wouldhave surely put out all the "i's" had they fallen on them. He nevercould send Monsieur's letter with the "s's" looking backward, he musttry to set them straight again.
So, very carelessly, in order not to excite suspicion, he asked Seki forpen and ink. He had written many letters to his mother and father, butalways in pencil, and Seki hesitated about giving him ink.
She said: "Our ink not like your American ink, live and quick as water,it hard like paint. We not use pen, but brush like which you writepictures. I sink it more better you use pencil."
But June insisted and when he gained his point, he carried the small boxinto the garden and took out his letter. The jar containing his goldfishwas close by, so he dipped his stick of paint into the water and rubbedit vigorously on the paint box. At the last moment just as his brush waspoised in the air, he had a moment of misgiving, "maybe 's's' do turnthat way!" he said, but the brush full of paint was a temptation not tobe resisted, so he took each little "s" by its tail and turned it insideout. The paper was soft and thin and took the ink like blotting paper.June watched with dismay as the lines spread into ugly blots, and whenhe tried to make the letters plainer he only made the blots bigger untilthey all seemed to join hands and go dancing over the envelope infiendish glee at his discomfort.
For two days he had tried to think of a way out of the difficulty butbefore he could find one he would get interested in something else andforget about the letter. It was only when it felt stiff inside of hisblouse that he remembered, and then he would stop playing and try againto solve the problem. At last in desperation he appealed to Seki San foran envelope.
"It is not so much big," she said, bringing out a long narrow envelopeand a roll of paper. "Why you want to write such big letter to yourmother? She coming home soon!"
"It isn't big enough," said June fretfully, then an idea struck him."Seki, I want to go see Monsieur to-day."
Seki San sat down on the step beside him and shook her head positively:
"No, no," she said, "not to-day, nor to-morrow, nor any day. He is not agood man, I made mistakes in letting you go."
"He _is_ a good man!" cried June indignantly, "he told me stories, andgave me lots of things."
"I tell you 'bout him, June," said Seki San. "One time Monsieur veryskilful smart man in Tokyo. He write pictures of the forts and show theJapanese how to find coast in time of war. He know more plenty thananybody about the coast and the mines. Then he is not behave right, andget sent out of the service, and he get sick in the hands so he can makeno more maps, and he come down here and live all alone by himself. Thatwas long time ago, but yesterday a high up messenger come from Tokyo,and asked for Monsieur Carre. The Emperor have desire to buy his oldmaps and reports, and get his help in making new plans. When themessenger come, they say Monsieur fall back on the bed very white andafraid, and say he will not give up the papers. Then messenger say maybehe has sold his papers to a foreign country and he get very much angry,and say if Monsieur Carre do not give the papers in twenty-four hours,he will have him arrested and take him to Tokyo. Still Monsieur keep thetight lips, and a guard is waiting outside his house."
With troubled eyes, June listened to every word. "_Did_ he sell thepapers, Seki?" he asked anxiously.
"He will not say," said Seki, "they say he will not say, but it was abad, wicked act if he sold our secrets, and he may die for it!"
June stirred restlessly, and the packet in his blouse caught in hisbelt. He put up his hand to straighten it, and as he did so, a startledlook of inquiry passed over his face. Could those papers in the longenvelope have anything to do with Monsieur's present trouble? Why hadMonsieur not wanted him to tell? Had his mistake about the "s's"anything to do with it all? The secret, which at first had seemed such amysterious and delightful possession, suddenly grew into a great andterrible burden that he longed to cast at Seki's feet and ask her toshare.
But the thought of telling what he knew never crossed his mind. He hadgiven his word, and he felt that to break it would be to forfeit foreverhis chance of becoming a soldier. But something must be done, he must goto Monsieur and tell him the truth at once.
"Seki," he said persuasively, "Monsieur is sick in bed, don't you thinkit would be nice for me to take him a little cake?"
"You can not ever go there any more," repeated Seki San positively. "Idid a mistakes in letting you go."
In vain June pleaded, every argument that he could think of he broughtto bear, but Seki was firm. By and by he began to cry, at first softly,begging between the sobs, then when he got angry he cried very loud anddeclared over and over that he would go.
Seki San was amazed at his naughtiness. It was the first time since hismother left that she had known him to be disobedient. When persuasionand coaxing proved in vain, she carried him into the house and carefullyclosing the paper screens left him alone. Here he lay on the floor andcried louder than ever. Seki San and her mother and the old man nextdoor stood on the outside and peeped through the cracks, gravelydiscussing the situation. Even Tomi sniffed uneasily, and gave sharp,unhappy barks.
"They peeped through the cracks, gravely discussing thesituation."]
After ever and ever so long the cries grew fainter and gradually ceased,and Seki peeping around the screen whispered to the others to be verystill as he was going to sleep.
June lay quiet on his face, but he was not asleep. Once in a while heopened his eyes a very little and peeped out, then he closed themquickly and listened. By and by he heard Seki go back to her work, andthe old man next door hobble across the garden. Inch by inch Junecrawled over the mats until he reached the screen, which he carefullyslid back. After waiting for a few breathless minutes, he reached outand got his shoes from the door-step and put them on. Back of the househe could hear Seki singing at her work, and not six feet away Tomi laysnoozing in the sun. Softly and cautiously he slipped out of the house,across the strip of a garden where all the leaves seemed to be shakingtheir heads at him, through a narrow passageway, then out of the gatethat divided the little world he knew from the vast unknown world thatlay beyond.